Thursday, July 20, 2017

Off Topic: About The Eclipse, And Those ALL-IMPORTANT Glasses

The Monday Aug 21 solar eclipse will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for those lucky enough to be in its path. You can check here to see if you are in the path, or how close you are. The lucky states are: OR, ID, MT (sort of), WY, NE, KS, IA, MO, IL, KY, TN, GA, NC, SC. Click on your state name here. Only limited parts of each state are included. Scroll down here for detailed tips for each state.

The closer you are to the very center of the path, the longer the total darkness will last, up to about 2 minutes 40 seconds. If you are out of the path, you won't see anything without glasses. Where I live in northern Utah, we will get an 80% partial eclipse, but it won't get dark at all, and we won't notice anything without special glasses. Where we are, with the glasses, it will look like someone took a bite out of the sun. Without the glasses, it will look like a normal day.

For those who get 100% darkness, it will be just like nighttime, with stars shining and crickets chirping.

Even if you are in the path of 100% darkness, you still NEED THE GLASSES because if you look directly at the eclipsed sun, you will see the halo, and that can burn your eyes the same as looking at the full sun.

I ordered solar eclipse glasses off Tanga yesterday ($7.99 for a 6 pack). Amazon has a bunch of them here i.e., a 10-pack for $15.95.

If you want glasses, get them now. When it gets closer, all merchants will sell out. You may be able to sell your extras for a nice profit a new minutes before it starts on Aug 21, LOL.

FYI: People are coming from all over the world for this event. Hotels in the path are completely booked. Some have been booked for over a year.